365 Group
This morning was one of the best rides I've had in several days. The weather was just right. Traffic was light. The bike ran great. I again picked up a couple of stray riders on my way from home. They stayed with me for most of my trip. If this keeps up it'll make mornings much more fun.
I made it to work with a few minutes to spare and decided to ease over to the companies truck shop. Several of the employees ride and I hadn't had anyone pick on me for not riding a Harley in a day or two. The guys at the shop weren't too busy. Grabbing a cup of coffee I took a jab or two about my "Rice burner" and joined in. They were talking about taking a trip over to Bull Shoals lake. A little dab of Fishing seemed to be in order from the way everyone was talking. The details are still in the works but it looks as though a fishing ride is in the works for maybe this coming weekend. Maybe even an over night? I got my daily dose of Harley vs my bike and headed to clock in. Today was going to be a nice day. Too nice to be cooped up. Hopefully I can get out by lunch and get in a few miles while this good weather is here?
Hope to catch ya on the road
Showing posts with label Harley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harley. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Saturday, April 12, 2008
A friend, a real rider
The last few days have been a trip. The weather has been so erratic that you just didn't know what to try and plan for. Sunny and 70's one day and cooler and heavy rains the next. There has been lots of flooding in my area and lots of people saying over and over that they are "tried of this *%#$".
The riding has been good for me. The warmer days work wonders on my arthritis and all that and it even brings out some unexpected fun.
I have a friend that has a 1972 Harley Sportster that he hardly ever rides. I tease him a bunch about it and the not riding. The truth of it all is he is so over worked that he just doesn't have anytime to get out and do any. However he jumps up and surprises ya once in a while. One of the warm days this past week he rode in and it worked out where we took a little time to go to a parts house close by to get him a head light bulb. In the process of leaving the parts house his bike started dumping out oil. Lots of oil!! Seems that a check valve was sticking and as the engine got warmer serious amounts of oil began flowing out on the pavement. Funny thing is that after much grunting and groaning and warming up it just stopped.
After we got back to work it had quit leaking altogether. I wrote it off as one of those thing that happens when your engine is cold. We were both convinced what the problem was and that it was an easy fix over a beer on a weekend to come and decided to grab a burger on the way home and went on back to work.
When the day finally ended I tooled around back to wait thinking we'd leave together and maybe miss some of the traffic. All was going good until he fired up and the oil started flowing again. This time it didn't quit after it warmed up and it looked like a serious problem was in the making. Now here is the deal about a (in my opinion) real rider. He seemed to know just what he needed to do to correct his problem and after listening to him, hey, he convinced me. And we got started.This check valve needed a real side of the road cleaning. So that's just what happened. We put together what tools we had and started to take everything apart. Once we got it all apart and looked it over it was apparent the there was some trash in the system. After cleaning it out and putting it all back together It fired up and cleaned out in a couple of seconds.
The ride to the burger place was a good one. Like most, just didn't last long enough. But hey, you get a ride wherever you can.
As I said before,in my opinion, a real rider is one of those that has a good knowledge of his bike and is willing to tackle a problem beside the road. I truly enjoy riding with guys and gals that, like myself ride a machine that you can actually still work on and aren't afraid to get into them when necessary. Most of the newer bikes are all computerised and there is very little that you can do yourself if you have a problem. Everyone says now days that they are just like a car and you don't have any problems any more. That worries me when I start thinking about taking a trip. "your in the bad lands some where and you develop a hiccup. How do you reboot"?
I like the fact that mine still uses carburetors, that I can stick a screw driver in and peak if the climate changes, that it still has a kick starter for those times that your battery turns up dead. The pros in my opinion for the older bikes goes on and on. Next time You see me just ask and I'll tell you all about it.
Well the temperature here has finally gotten to 50 today and I gotta head for the shop and put on a starter motor for those times the lazy streak in me comes out.
Note: No car washes or Credit cards were harmed during this adventure
The riding has been good for me. The warmer days work wonders on my arthritis and all that and it even brings out some unexpected fun.
I have a friend that has a 1972 Harley Sportster that he hardly ever rides. I tease him a bunch about it and the not riding. The truth of it all is he is so over worked that he just doesn't have anytime to get out and do any. However he jumps up and surprises ya once in a while. One of the warm days this past week he rode in and it worked out where we took a little time to go to a parts house close by to get him a head light bulb. In the process of leaving the parts house his bike started dumping out oil. Lots of oil!! Seems that a check valve was sticking and as the engine got warmer serious amounts of oil began flowing out on the pavement. Funny thing is that after much grunting and groaning and warming up it just stopped.
After we got back to work it had quit leaking altogether. I wrote it off as one of those thing that happens when your engine is cold. We were both convinced what the problem was and that it was an easy fix over a beer on a weekend to come and decided to grab a burger on the way home and went on back to work.
When the day finally ended I tooled around back to wait thinking we'd leave together and maybe miss some of the traffic. All was going good until he fired up and the oil started flowing again. This time it didn't quit after it warmed up and it looked like a serious problem was in the making. Now here is the deal about a (in my opinion) real rider. He seemed to know just what he needed to do to correct his problem and after listening to him, hey, he convinced me. And we got started.This check valve needed a real side of the road cleaning. So that's just what happened. We put together what tools we had and started to take everything apart. Once we got it all apart and looked it over it was apparent the there was some trash in the system. After cleaning it out and putting it all back together It fired up and cleaned out in a couple of seconds.
The ride to the burger place was a good one. Like most, just didn't last long enough. But hey, you get a ride wherever you can.
As I said before,in my opinion, a real rider is one of those that has a good knowledge of his bike and is willing to tackle a problem beside the road. I truly enjoy riding with guys and gals that, like myself ride a machine that you can actually still work on and aren't afraid to get into them when necessary. Most of the newer bikes are all computerised and there is very little that you can do yourself if you have a problem. Everyone says now days that they are just like a car and you don't have any problems any more. That worries me when I start thinking about taking a trip. "your in the bad lands some where and you develop a hiccup. How do you reboot"?
I like the fact that mine still uses carburetors, that I can stick a screw driver in and peak if the climate changes, that it still has a kick starter for those times that your battery turns up dead. The pros in my opinion for the older bikes goes on and on. Next time You see me just ask and I'll tell you all about it.
Well the temperature here has finally gotten to 50 today and I gotta head for the shop and put on a starter motor for those times the lazy streak in me comes out.
Note: No car washes or Credit cards were harmed during this adventure
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